Editorial: Thoughts are with families of the Challenger seven

Friday

Jan 28, 2011 at 12:01 AMJan 28, 2011 at 10:32 PM

Twenty-five years ago, an event took place which, even now, remains in the American consciousness: the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, killing all aboard, including teacher Christa McAuliffe.

Twenty-five years ago, an event took place which, even now, remains in the American consciousness: the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, killing all aboard, including teacher Christa McAuliffe.

Like national tragedies before and since, many of us remember what we were doing the moment we heard the news.

If you’ll recall, many people around the country were excited by this shuttle launch. For the first time in history, an average person, a teacher, would go to space.

For NASA, it was a chance to prove the shuttle to be a safe, reliable form of space travel. Having an average person go up on a shuttle mission was a way to show that the space age had arrived, that going into orbit could be as commonplace as taking a trip on an airplane.

Schoolchildren around the country gathered in classrooms and gymnasiums to watch the launch on television. For months before the event, schools made the upcoming launch part of their science curriculum, with renewed attention on the space program.

Then, 72 seconds into the flight and 10 miles above the ground, the launch went horribly wrong. A malfunctioning O-ring allowed gases and burning rocket fuel to escape, causing a fiery explosion and killing all seven onboard.

For many of us watching the event unfold on television, it was a stomach-churning shock to the system. We recall scanning the television screen for some sign of the spacecraft as the solid rocket boosters separated from a fireball, going off in different directions. There was none –– only smoke, fire and debris.

Since that time, it’s been revealed that engineers warned NASA against the launch, saying the unexpected frigid temperatures in Florida the night before would render the O-rings stiff, inflexible and worthless. Those fears were overruled by the engineers’ superiors.

In the years preceding the Challenger explosion, NASA was viewed as the “good news” federal agency. Its scientists shared their breakthroughs and triumphs with the world. Successful NASA missions, including the historic 1969 moon landing, provided a little relief from the horrors of the Vietnam War.

After the explosion, and in the wake of the Columbia shuttle disaster in 2003, that changed. Even today, as the shuttle program is slated to end later this year, NASA stresses that space is a very dangerous place.

Indeed. And we can take comfort in the fact that NASA’s top concern today is safety, not schedules.

Our thoughts are with the families of the Challenger seven today.

-- Daily News (Neosho, Mo.)

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